


all the pretty things that we could be

by sapphfics



Category: Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 - Malloy, Voyná i mir | War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Re-upload, Texting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 00:39:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12024441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: Mary sends a text meant for her father to a wrong number. It turns out better than you might expect.Essentially: a mordern au wherein Mary types like the Queen, Natasha neglects all use of punctuation, and Mary can't help loving her.





	all the pretty things that we could be

Mary Bolkonsky is not okay.

Her vision is blurred by unshed tears, hands shaking so much that she can hardly read her own message. Her breathing is short.

_Father,_

_That woman's just using you for your money. The fact that she's taking advantage of your weakness is /disgusting/. Please, don't marry her. Trust me for once. I'm begging you._

She can barely force herself to press send but she does. She's never told her father about how she feels, because he doesn't care. But, this needs to be said.

Although it's not as if the woman her father's chosing to marry can ruin her life more than he already has.

She takes a deep breath. Exhales. She will not let him see her cry. She will not let him see that he's broken her. 

It's at this moment she gets a reply. She can hardly look as she opens it. She expects a lot of all caps and exclaimation points and harsh, cruel words. What she doesn't expect is what she sees:

_hi there!!!!!_

_i think you've got a wrong number??_

_in any case, i'm sorry about ur situation._

_you should talk to someone tho!!!!_

_maybe they could help convince him as well??_

_sendin' u good vibes!!!_

The person ends the message with a heart emoji. Mary types a reply since it would be rude to not end the conversation.

_I would. But I don't have anyone to talk to._

_I never go anywhere, not that I'm ever invited to._

_There's no one else to take care of my father._

_I'm all alone._

She hits send before she can stop herself. She then realises how riddiculous the whole thing is, that she's burdeing details of her life on a complete stranger. She then hastily types.

_Sorry._

_You probably didn't need to know that._

_I'll leave you alone now._

Mary's a second away from deleting the whole conversation when she gets a reply.

_pls wait!!!_

_u can...talk 2 me...if u want??_

Mary bites her lip. She knows she should be cautious about meeting people online but...it would be nice to have someone to talk to. 

_That would be nice._

_My name is Mary. What can I call you?_

It's barely a minute later when the other person replies.

_hi there mary!!!_

_my name is Super Long so every1 just calls me natasha!!!_

_did u kno u type like a queen?? its so cute <3_

Mary feels her face turn red. She wonders if she might have a fever. 

_....Thank you._

_I don't think anyone's ever called me "cute" before._

Her father had called her many things, but never that. She assumes that her mother might have, but she never knew her mother. Still, it felt _nice_ to be acknowledged as something other than worthless. 

_:( that's Sad :(_

_im sorry_

_u deserve better!!! <3_

 

Mary feels her heart beat a little faster. She swallows. 

_Thank you <3_

_That means....a lot to me._

_But enough about me,_

_how are you?_

It's one of first times Mary's ever had the opportunity to use emojis. She hopes Natasha doesn't mind. 

_ur welcome <3_

_well, my cousin & i just arrived 2 stay w my godmother & im so pleased 2 be here!!_

_my godmother just compared the place to "an old dressing gown" so...idk what that says abt. my family_

_my fiancee's off in the military. i miss him so much!!! u have No Idea!!!!_

_im meeting his family 2morrow!! so!!! thats a Thing thats happening!!_

_i know theyll like me tho! everyone likes me!!_

Mary can't explain why, but her heart sinks a little when she reads that Natasha has a fiancee. She's not jealous, is she?

_Your family sound delightful!_

_I wish you good luck for tomorrow!_

_I hope your fiancee's family are everything you want them to be!_

Mary neglects to tell Natasha that she likes her since they've only known of one another's existence for an hour. Still, she does like Natasha, and it's strange and wonderful all at the same time.

_Is this what it feels like to have a friend?_

Mary smiles. It's small and quiet, but she hasn't smiled in a long time. Not since Andrey left. 

However, the bliss is only temporary. She hears her father shouting for her to come inside. For a moment, she feels herself slipping away from the world entirely. She tries to force herself back but it's hopeless.

She feel's a cold hand on her shoulder and pulls away. She doesn't like to be touched. 

It's her father's fiancee, Bourienne. Mary sighs internally. 

"Your father needs you," Bourienne's voice is almost as cold as her father's, masked by a seemingly kind smile. They were friends once, though Mary can't remember why. She forces herself up. 

Just as Bourienne beckons her inside, Mary quickly texts Natasha. 

_Sorry,_

_I must leave._

_Do you want to talk to me more tomorrow?_

 

Mary rubs her the inside of her wrist as she waits for a reply. She wonders if Natasha will soon grow bored of her.

She doesn't know why she cares so much but she _does_. 

_of course!!!_

_its been rlly Great meeting u mary!!_

_ttyl <3_

Mary thinks about nothing but Natasha for hours after.  

//

If Natasha messes this up she will _die_.

(Alright, so maybe that seems a little bit over-dramatic to some, but her emotions have always been a tremulous scale, toying somewhere between overwhelming joy and utter despair.)

She’s tapping out the melody of a song she’s long since forgotten the name of, her nails clicking softly on the banister.

Andrey’s – the Bolkonsky’s – house seems so empty and lifeless. It feels strange to imagine that a man so wonderful as Andrey could have grown up in such a house. Perhaps, the household’s current state of uneasiness is due to his absence. It must be.

“Are the Prince and Princess at home?” Natasha asks, putting on her most charming smile.

“The Prince is unwell I’m afraid,” The man states, attempting to smile back. “However, the Princess welcomes you.”

Natasha’s smile grows brighter, somehow. She knows they will like her. _Everyone_ has always liked her.

The man leads her to what she assumes was once a drawing room.

Natasha pushes open the door.

//

“Oh,” Princess Mary greets her with slightly frightened eyes and looks as if Natasha is going to hurt her. “Oh, hello.”

Mary does not meet Natasha’s eyes.

“Won’t you come in?” Mary’s voice is so quiet that Natasha can hardly hear her. It’s as if she is afraid of Natasha somehow. Natasha has done nothing, yet she feels as though she has somehow offended Mary by her mere existence.

And, well, Natasha doesn’t like her. She feels as though she is a burden to Mary, and then Mary shoots her a look that can best be described as _cold_  and  _calculating_.

Natasha shrinks into herself and her eyes drift to a crack in the wall as she stares unblinking. It’s as if nothing else exists. She hears other voices but she has no idea what they’re saying.

That is, until Adrey’s father stumbles into the room wearing a faded dressing gown, his bald head reflecting the light from a lamp.

In an instant, Mary has placed a protective hand on Natasha’s shoulder and is stepping in front of her as though she were about to be shot.

“Countess Rostova!” Prince Bolkonsky’s eyes widen, though Natasha isn’t sure if it’s from shock or something else. “I beg you to excuse me, I came in such a costume only to see my daughter.”

Prince Bolkonsky sends his daughter an icy glare.

“I have to leave,” Natasha mumbles.

She doesn’t see it, but as she flees the room, Prince Bolkonsky scowls at her.

Without a moments reflection, Mary runs after her.

//

“Please, wait!” Mary calls, desperately.

Natasha turns around, a coldness seeping into her bones.

"I just," Mary's hands are shaking and she can't make them stop, she chews on her lip. "I want you to know how glad I am my brother's found happiness."

"Is that the truth?" Natasha spits out. There’s a sharp venom in her voice that it makes Mary want to sob because it seems all is ruined. "I think it's not convent to speak of that now, dear Princess."

There's such frost in Natasha's words that the very air between the two seems to chill. Natasha speaks with such dignity -

Mary turns away so that Natasha can't see the tears slip down her face.

It's at this moment, she receives a text.

_my fiancée's family were So Awful!!! im sorry i just need someone to vent to and my fiancée isn't here so..._

_It's fine_

Mary sends the reply hastily since she could do with focusing on someone else's problems instead of her own.

So, she sits and listens to the person who is, at present, in need of her help and doesn't think how conincidentally, the Countess and Natasha share the same name. 

//

Natasha Rostova is okay.

(Amendment: Natasha Rostova has never really been _okay_. She’s usually some undefined in-between. She just hasn’t found the words to describe it, yet.)

She’s been texting Mary for hours on end.

It’s late. She knows she should sleep but –

It’s _nice_ , she thinks, to have someone other than Sonya or Marya to talk to.

Besides, she never really feels comfortable discussing Andrey with either of them.

Whenever she (accidentally) spills her guts to Sonya, tries to form the correct words to express just how much she misses him, she feels as though she’s annoying them, somehow. She loves them, trusts no one but them. And yet -

(“I can’t _bare_ this waiting!” Natasha cries and cries. Remembers where she is. Turns away in something like embarrassment. The snow is falling, turning her cheeks red. Sonya’s smile is sad.)

Marya is so _proud_ of her. For, in her godmother’s opinion, Natasha’s “hooked a fine fellow” who’ll be “the family’s saving grace” – Marya’s old school that way, Natasha supposes. She’s informed Marya some of what happened, in a flood of child-like tears - all of the details involving rants about the, quite frankly, terrible Prince Bolkonsky - and Marya looked as though she was ready to murder the man on sight.

Natasha still can’t quite believe how badly it all went today. She doesn’t _want_ to believe it.

Talking to Mary helped, a little. Mary knows how to listen and Natasha is eternally grateful.

Moonlight is bursting into her room. Natasha is sitting by the bedroom window and watches the moon.

Her phone buzzes.

_Shouldn’t you be asleep?_

Without really thinking, Natasha sends Mary a photo of the sky.

_!!!!! this winter sky !!!!! how can anyone sleep????????_

But seeing the moon makes her think of Andrey, and thinking about Andrey hurts, so she shuts the curtains quickly.

_The sky certainly is beautiful._

Mary’s reply seems a bit harsh to Natasha’s eyes. She’s always disliked when people end their messages in a full stop, though she can’t explain why. It makes her nervous.

heyyy r u doing smthing 2morrow ???? im going 2 the opera !!!  
Nope, I never go anywhere. Who would take care of my dad? Some of my friends are going though! Perhaps, you’ll meet them.

_:( u should come !!!!! i bet u’d like it !!!!_

(Natasha’s not entirely sure why she said that.)

_I would if I could! I’ve been assured by my friends that they’ll live text me the entire thing. So, I won’t be missing anything. Two of them saw the show together about four times last week, so it must be good!_

Natasha’s attempting to scour the internet to find Mary a bootleg so she can watch it too, but to no avail.

_thats gr8 of them !!! i'm glad u have Good friends !!!_

_Me too! They seem sort of unapproachable at first, but they’re alright, once you get to know them._

Natasha wonders how it was possible to feel so free around someone she’s known for so little time. She feels as though she could tell Mary anything and it’s sort of ridiculous but –

_ok…its like 3 am here so i guess i should Attempt Sleep !! gn !! ily !!!_

Natasha waits, slightly panicked, for a response.

_I love you too! Goodnight! Sweet dreams! <3_

(Natasha blushes happily.)


End file.
